


Shuusaku's Return or "Go-ost!"

by mmmdraco



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: M/M, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2017-11-10 04:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/462056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since Sai, Hikaru's been more receptive to the spiritual world. Imagine his surprise when Akira returns from a go expedition and is being haunted by a familiar spirit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shuusaku's Return or "Go-ost!"

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I mean no harm, I have no money... Stuff like that. Yeah.

Ever since Sai had disappeared, Hikaru had been much more receptive to the vibes of the spiritual world. He would feel chills when walking past places where murders or suicides had been committed. There began to be something that seemed to drift in front of his eyes when he turned off the lights at night, though it would go away once he'd blinked enough and settled himself under the covers. He began to wonder if he should see a doctor when he began to be able to see the forms of spirits. There was a little girl who lurked around the swings at the local park, and an old woman who stood stoically in front of the bell at the shrine. There was no Hanako-chan in the bathroom at school, but there were dozens of students whose spirits lingered around on the roof. Hikaru had taken to eating his lunch in the hallway.

All of this occured during a period where Akira was out of town on a go expedition. So, it was very much to Hikaru's surprise that when he went out to lunch with Akira (which always just meant eating quickly so they'd have enough energy for a good game of go), there was a spirit who was following Akira around.

For a while, Hikaru didn't say anything about it. He ate his hamburgers (Akira had been able to talk him out of ramen as he was rarely able to do) and looked only at Akira and his food. But when they started moving again, he realized that he recognized the spirit. It was a half-cocked recognization at best since he'd only seen paintings and pictures and some half-seen mental glimpses from Sai's mind. "Hey, Touya... do you realize that you're being haunted by Honninbou Shuusaku?"

An hour and a half later, Hikaru was released from a doctor's care with orders to come back if anything changed. After he'd make his haunting statement earlier, Akira had immediately dragged him to the closest clinic, claiming his friend and rival was delusional. Now, Akira dragged him to his father's go salon. They sat in the back with tea and Akira looked him in the eye. "Okay, Shindou. What's this about?"

Hikaru looked off to Akira's left and shuddered a bit. "There is a ghost *right there*," he pointed for emphasis, "and it is the ghost of Honninbou Shuusaku. I merely inquired whether you knew he was haunting you since he's been following you all day long."

Akira looked at the place where Hikaru was pointing, then stretched his arm out and ran it through the space. His eyebrows furrowed slightly and he did it again, this time with his eyes closed. "That's weird. That spot's sort of cold. There have never been any cold spots in here before."

Hikaru sat forward in his chair. "That's because you just tried to chop a ghost in half with your arm! Look, he seems to be, I dunno, sort of out of it? He's not doing anything other than following you. Maybe if you don't do anything, he'll go away?"

Holding onto the arm that had gotten chilled, Akira nodded. "All right. So, do you want to play now?"

Nodding and standing, Hikaru led the way to the board. "I'll nigiri."

And everything was okay until the Akira decided to grab tengen for himself. That's when the spirit came to life, grabbing at the stones with his lifeless, formless hands. But even with that, all of the stones he touched trembled on the board, rattling just enough that Akira couldn't ignore it *and* the look on Hikaru's face. Suddenly, he believed in ghosts. "What's it doing?"

Hikaru had pushed his chair back when Shuusaku had gone crazy and had his hands ready on the arms of the chair to push himself up and away. "He's grabbing for the stones. I'm not sure if he wants to play or what..." He looked at the ghost. "Um, what do you want?"

Shuusaku's ghost looked up. It didn't say anything, but Hikaru could hear the words anyway... Shuusaku wanted to play. He wanted to play one more game... one more game by himself without Fujiwarano Sai whispering in his ear. Fortunately, that was something with which Hikaru could oblige him. "Touya." He smiled. "We're going to start again. This time, you're going to be playing against Honninbou Shuusaku."

Akira smiled. "Let him have black."

And so they played. Hikaru fell back on his skills used when Sai was still around, only Shuusaku couldn't point very well, so Hikaru had to count the spaces, though thankfully much faster than when he started playing. Hikaru yawned after placing the final stone and determining that Akira had won, and suddenly Shuusaku was just gone. Hikaru looked around, but saw no trace of him. He looked at Akira. "Congratulations on beating Honninbou Shuusaku's ghost."

Akira ran his hand over the board slowly. "It couldn't have been Shuusaku's ghost. He should have been better than that."

"Yes, well, let's just say that the Shuusaku you know and love had his own ghost... one who stayed with him a lot longer than Shuusaku stayed with you."

"Did he tell you that?"

"I just... know."

"You're better than Shuusaku, Shindou. And I'd like a good game now, if you wouldn't mind."

And so they cleaned the board and switched stones. But before Akira could place the first stone, he stopped himself. "You acted like you'd done that before... like you'd put down stones for someone else before. But, it reminded me of how you used to play back when you first started. Were you by any chance haunted by a ghost who played go?"

Hikaru smiled and fingered a stone. "Yes. I was haunted by the same one that Shuusaku was... Fujiwarano Sai."

Akira blinked and then grabbed for a stone, putting it below the first star point. "That sounds interesting. You'll have to tell me about that later."

"You're not going to demand to know about Sai?" Hikaru took the opposing spot with his own stone."

"Well, I figure I just got the basics right there, and now we're in the middle of a game, and my opponent is you, Shindou, not Sai. And since Sai is apparently no longer here, and you are, I think I'll focus my attention on something that really matters."

"You think I matter?"

Akira took a countering point on the board. "No. I *know* you matter. You matter to me, to the go world, and to this game. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

Grabbing a position by the final star point, Hikaru smiled brightly at Akira. "Well, you matter to me, too." He laughed suddenly, so hard that he almost knocked over his go ke. "Sorry... just wondered if Shuusaku followed you because you have pretty hair like Sai's."

Touching his hair softly, Akira smiled. "Or did he follow me because he wanted to meet you and play through you?"

"How would he know about me?"

"Because I think about you. And because we're rivals... and friends... and whatever else we can be to each other."

Hikaru flipped a stone between his fingers. "Well, we're not lovers."

"But we *could* be. It wouldn't surprise anyone, at least. Ogata's been trying to ply me with condoms for the last two years. My mother cries when she looks at me after she watches shows about weddings and children."

Pausing for a moment to try to press the forming headache out of his head, Hikaru said, "Touya, is this your way of asking me out?"

"Akari and Waya both gave me their permission."

"What? You didn't ask my mother?" Hikaru actually felt a little shocked.

"Of course I did. She said that as long as I made you happy, it was okay."

"Huh." Hikaru looked Akira over for a moment. "Well, if everyone says it's okay or whatnot, I guess I'll give it a shot. Where are you taking me on our first date?"

"Wherever you want to go."

"Then, we're already here. And then you can take me out to dinner. You can be my sugar daddy."

Akira blushed. "Would that make you my sugar baby, then?"

"And this is where we go back to go where we know what the hell we're doing, right?" Hikaru smiled. "One step at a time, just like placing stones in a game. We'll start with dinner, then."

"Dinner it is."

**Author's Note:**

> A podfic, by uminohikari, is available [here](http://ihikago.livejournal.com/21644.html).


End file.
